Baker Mayfield threw for 273 yards and the Browns only touchdown to Jarvis Landry and Austin Siebert kicked four field goals in the defeat.
The Browns slip to 2-6 on the season and will host 6-2 Buffalo next week.
Brownie Bits
1) The first note deals with off the field as safety Jermaine Whitehead blasted off several tweets towards Cleveland radio host Dustin Fox and several fans that challenged them to fights at the team's practice facility in Berea.
Whitehead did have a bad game, missed several tackles, including one that saw Noah Fant run down the field in the above picture for a 75-yard score.
To be fair to Whitehead, he is playing with a broken hand, which can make wrapping up tackles difficult so I could give him a break for that, but his Twitter behavior is inexcusable.
Considering Whitehead's past ( The Packers cut him for slapping New England's David Andrews in a game last season), it wouldn't stun me to see the Browns cut him on Monday.
2) I said before this game that I had a feeling that if the Browns lost to a third-string quarterback that had never taken an NFL snap before this game that Freddie Kitchens could be fired.
Now we'll see because I just cannot make excuses after this,
No matter the excuse, the Browns are 2-6 and now will have to 8-0 to have a playoff chance and 7-1 to salvage a winning record.
Far more was expected from this team, now will Freddie Kitchens take the fall today or is he given the chance to save his job in the second half?
3) Three times in this game, the Browns had key third (and fourth ) downs to be picked up and on all three occasions, it was not Nick Chubb getting the football.
Twice, it was backup Dontrell Hilliard, the other was a sneak by Baker Mayfield and on all three occasions, the Browns came up short of the first down.
If you want to look at why Freddie Kitchens is in trouble, one of the reasons are these play-calling decisions that put the football in the hands of everyone but the best playmakers.
4) To be fair, I thought Baker Mayfield made the first down in the fourth quarter on a fourth and one from the Denver five.
I don't blame Kitchens for going for it there as the Browns were down five points at the time and a field goal still would have left the Browns needing a second field goal to win, 6but as written above- I do question not giving the ball to Chubb.
I thought Mayfield made it on forward progress and still do, but when you watch the replay, Mayfield is turned to the side as he's brought to the turf and that is what the side judge saw when he spotted the football.
Kitchens then made things worse by listening to Mayfield's advice to challenge the call.
These plays that involve short-yardage spots of the football are rarely overturned because there usually just isn't enough visual evidence with so many bodies around the ball.
Predictably, the Browns lost the challenge and a timeout was wasted.
5) Give the Broncos credit, they kept things very simple for first-time starter Brandon Allen.
Denver kept his reads simple, didn't task him with too many decisions to make, and allowed him to play the exact type of game that you would hope to see from a young quarterback in his first game action- keep your team in the game and don't make huge mistakes by turning the football over.
Allen finished 12 of 20 with two touchdowns and most importantly, zero turnovers.
6) Baker Mayfield didn't throw an interception either and his play didn't cost the Browns the game, but he still is throwing so many balls high and for a passer that was regarded as such an accurate passer coming out of Oklahoma, he is not consistent at all with his accuracy.
The two passes that I remember most?
The first was in the first half to a wide-open Demetrius Harris in the back of the Denver end zone.
Being fair, Harris made the catch, but was very sloppy in trying to keep his feet inbounds and was rightfully ruled out of bounds with the Browns settling for yet another Austin Seibert field goal.
I blame Harris far more than Mayfield there, but if that pass is on the money Harris doesn't have to leap and his feet stay in bounds.
The other pass was a pass that meant little in the game, but the little things add up in these losses.
The Browns are running a set screen pass to Nick Chubb and the Browns have the linemen out in front of Chubb in both Greg Robinson and Joel Bitonio, so this looks like at least a first down gained and the potential for more.
Chubb's all alone, so all Mayfield has to do is get the ball to him.
He doesn't, the pass is nowhere near Chubb and incomplete.
7) Odell Beckham caught five passes for 87 yards and hit two for chunks of yardage (39 and 27) with one of those two scraping the ball off a Bronco defenders helmet and the other showcasing a high-step to earn more yardage than the play looked like it would make.
It's easy to see what Beckham can bring to an offense when he is used to his best, but the Browns still aren't using him in the offense at his optimum.
Beckham rarely is running deep patterns and I wish I knew why that was.
Is it Baker Mayfield's arm? Mayfield's health? Freddie Kitchens playcalling? Or the chemistry between the two isn't where it should be after the lack of training camp work?
No matter the reason, the Browns aren't using Odell Beckham to maximum efficiency and if that's the case, why did they trade for him to begin with?
8) The Browns haven't hit on many things this season other than one Sunday in Baltimore, but it appears that Austin Siebert as the kicker has been one of those that have worked out.
Siebert's four field goals kept the Browns in the game and improved to 14 of 14 on the season.
9) One more Mayfield-Beckham note.
On the final Browns drive, Cleveland has taken the ball to the Denver 28 and it's fourth down and four.
Beckham lines up and he has man coverage in which Beckham is always going to have an advantage.
I know that taking a deep shot with the game in the balance is a gamble, but one in that situation that a confident coach and quarterback take.
Mayfield forces the ball into coverage to Jarvis Landry, the ball falls to the grass and the game is over as the Browns are without their timeouts.
10) Mack Wilson has had his struggles as rookie linebackers often will but in the second half, Wilson played his best stretch as a Brown.
Wilson finished with five solo tackles, two of those for losses, a sack, and a deflected pass.
We might look back at this draft as the Mack Wilson draft in a few seasons in stealing a star in the fifth round.
11) I could live with the Broncos touchdown scored by Courtland Sutton, who leaped over Denzel Ward and used a four-inch height advantage to make the play.
Ward did a good job in coverage and a bigger man caught the ball- it happens.
But the lousy tackling on the score by Noah Fant ( Jermaine Whitehead, Greedy Williams, and Adarius Taylor all missed tackles) and the no one even touching Phillip Lindsay on his 30-yard touchdown run might have been worse.
Defensively, the Browns just lack so many fundamentals that other teams always seem to have.
12) Finally, we waited for the schedule to soften and the Browns lost anyway.
When you consider the entire picture and the competition's issues- you HAVE to win this game and they kicked field goals instead.
Please save the "8-0 run vs this schedule" patter, It's not happening.
This team is poorly coached, poor in the fundamentals of the game, immature, and worries about the things that don't matter rather than what should matter.
They will win some games, but not as many as we all thought- now it's a matter of hopefully seeing some growth and maturity and build for next year.
If you are looking for more than that, save those prayers for something else.
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